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" I wish I was pulling on a Carlisle shirt for real, I know that much. It will be great though, I had a fantastic time at Carlisle and it's great to be asked to play a week on Sunday. I'll catch up with a few of the old lads and hopefully we can do well in the competition. I'm more worried about the shorts than the shirt to be honest.
" It's going to be the first one for me, you watch it on television and it looks reasonably slow, but speaking to one or two of the lads who have actually done it, they have said that it is really, really quick. You're gasping for air most of the time they said, so it is going to be a tester. It's going to be interesting, I think it's a good competition, it's enjoyable but I think that as soon as you get involved you want to win.
" I'm keeping fit, I haven't played probably since October time, so the fitness is not going to be the greatest. So we'll see how it goes, but it is something that I'm really looking forward to. I've been scouting for Sheffield United since I left Worcester, watching a lot of League Two and League One games and. Looking for players who Sheffield United could sign and maybe sell on in the future.
" It's kept me involved and kept me in touch with what has been happening. That has been interesting because there is not so much pressure on you in that job. Although you want to recommend the right players and not make any mistakes. That has been interesting but not the same as managing and playing.
" Simmo (Paul Simpson) is a quality player, I've seen him in the Masters before and he was one of the top players in the Masters. I think that he played for Manchester City a number of times and they have always done well. So it will be great to play alongside Simmo and hopefully he can lay a few balls on for me. "
" He (Kevin Gray) is a great leader, he always kept you going and demanded high standards. It'll be the same again I'm sure, we'll be going there trying to win the competition but we've got some tough teams in there to try to get past, and some quality players I'm sure in the opposition. I'm not sure who we might play against, (Chris) Waddle was one and (Peter) Beardsley was another, they got mentioned but I don't know whether that has been confirmed yet. It's a scary prospect when you hear those two names.
" It depends on Micky (Quinn) whether he has put his weight back on after the Celebrity Fat Club. If you ever give him half a chance though he always used to take them. It will be great to play against some of these players because one or two I would have been watching on the television as a younger lad. It would be great to be on the same pitch as them.
" It's really intense, we did a lot of the small-sided games in pre-season training because it really is good for the fitness levels. So you can imagine what it is like for lads just getting back on the pitch who haven't done much training or haven't played football for a while. It is tough, I think fitness does come into it later on in the competition.
" I think that when you have looked at it some of the younger teams, I think that Leicester had a lot of younger players who had just finished and they always did well and have won it in the past. I think that our team is not too bad, age-wise and fitness-wise, so I think that we will have a decent chance. I'll leave the skill to the others, if I can put the ball in the back of the net and run around a bit then I think that that will be my contribution.
" Hopefully I can do OK, my boys can't remember me playing so I can't let them down. When they play I am telling them that they need to do this and they need to do that and now they are expecting all sorts of things from me. It'll be interesting next Sunday. "